In the wake of the latest deadly migrant boat incident off the Libyan coast, Malta has once again been accused of ignoring alarms and leaving men, women and children to die. This time the boat that capsized was just outside the Maltese search and rescue (SAR) zone. Once again the Maltese authorities chose to ignore the alarms, some say.
More than 300 migrants have been rescued over the last few days by the private rescue ships Ocean Viking and Geo Barents, run by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders MSF respectively.
The families of Tunisian migrants missing since their boat sank in September have dug up graves in a cemetery in an effort to find out for themselves whether their loved ones are buried there.
The Geo Barents ship, operated by medical charity Doctors Without Borders, reached 122 migrants "just in time" as their boat was starting to deflate. Aid groups again called on states to coordinate search and rescue efforts in the Mediterranean.
UNHCR special envoy for the Western and Central Mediterranean situation Vincent Cochetel had to give an apology after making disparaging remarks about migrants and their families. Cochetel’s comments had ignited a major row on Twitter.
The fate of around 60 Lebanese and Syrian migrants on a sinking fishing boat in the Mediterranean is unknown after contact was lost on Monday. They had reported running out of food and water, and that two young children on board had died.
The Greek coast guard has rescued 122 migrants near Rhodes. Meanwhile, the organization Alarm Phone reported a growing group of migrants had become stranded at the Evros River crossing.
In the last few days, Tunisian authorities have recovered the bodies of at least 16 migrants. On Monday, the coast guard said it had retrieved the bodies of four migrants.
Two private rescue ships, the Sea-Eye 4 and the Aita Mari, have carried out rescues relatively close to each other not too far off the Libyan and Tunisian coasts. Sea-Eye 4 rescued 63 migrants on Tuesday and Aita Mari carried out a rescue on Wednesday of 17.
Two migrant boats overturned in the space of a few hours on Saturday off the coast of Tunisia. At least 13 bodies have been recovered -- among them six children and six women. About a dozen are still reported missing.
A group of 34 asylum seekers who had been stranded for two days on an island in the Evros river were finally evacuated on Friday. A humanitarian organization accused Greece and Turkey of 'playing with people's lives'.
Around 50 people died in a shipwreck on February 27 off the Libyan coast. Some of their corpses washed up on the beach of Sabratha in the Zawiya district.